Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Dukanipata - Harita-Mata Jataka

Jataka Vol. II: Book II. Dukanipāta: No. 239. Harita-Mata Jataka



No. 239.
HARITA-MĀTA-JĀTAKA.
"When I was in their cage," etc.--This story the Master told while dwelling in
the Bamboo-grove, about Ajātasattu.
Mahā-Kosala, the king of Kosala's father, when he married his daughter to king
Bimbisāra, had given her a village in Kāsi for bath-money. After Ajātasattu
murdered Bimbisāra, his father, the queen very soon died of love for him. Even
after his mother's death, Ajātasattu still enjoyed the revenues of this village.
But the king of Kosala determined that no parricide should have a village which
was his by right of inheritance, and made war upon him. Some-times the uncle got
the best of it, and sometimes the nephew. And when Ajātasattu was victor, he
raised his banner and marched through the country back to his capital in
triumph; but when he lost, all downcast he returned without letting any one
know.
It happened on a day that the Brethren sat talking about it in the Hall of
Truth. "Friend"--so one would say--"Ajātasattu is delighted when he beats his
uncle, and when he loses he is cast down." The Master, entering the Hall, asked
what they were discussing this time; [238] and they told him. He said,
"Brethren, this is not the first time that the man has been happy when he
conquered, and miserable when he did not." And he told them an old-world tale.
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p. 165
Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta became a
Green Frog. At the time people set wicker cages in all pits and holes of the
rivers, to catch fish withal. In one cage were a large number of fish. And a
Water-snake, eating fish, went into the trap himself. A number of the fish
thronging together fell to biting him, until he was covered with blood. Seeing
no help for it, in fear of his life he slipped out of the mouth of the cage, and
lay down full of pain on the edge of the water. At the same moment, the Green
Frog took a leap and fell into the mouth of the trap. The Snake, not knowing to
whom he could appeal, asked the Frog that he saw there in the trap--"Friend
Frog, are you pleased with the behaviour of yonder Fish?" and he uttered the
first stanza:--
"When I was in their cage, the fish did bite
Me, though a snake. Green Frog, does that seem right?"
Then the Frog answered him, "Yes, friend Snake, it does: why not? if you eat
fish which get into your demesne, [239] the fish eat you when you get into
theirs. In his own place, and district, and feeding ground no one is weak." So
saying, he uttered the second stanza:
"Men rob as long as they can compass it;
And when they cannot--why, the biter's bit!"
The Bodhisatta having pronounced his opinion, all the fish observing the Snake's
weakness, cried, "Let us seize our foe!" and came out of the cage, and did him
to death then and there, and then departed.
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When the Master had ended this discourse, he identified the Birth:--"Ajātasattu
was the Water-snake, and the Green Frog was I."



Next: No. 240. Mahāpiṅgala-Jātaka